I was working at the Norair windtunnel when the B-66's came in. The first was delivered without incident; however, the second landed further down the runway, a little faster, and the parachute brake failed to deploy. The pilot retracted the landing gear, and the plane skidded to a stop part way across the street at the west end of the runway.

The concept started when Northop was developing the B-35 and B-49; and a celebrated Swiss expert on boundary layers, Werner Pfenninger (sp?) was hired to pursure the concept. The aircraft, according to reports, worked well, but the maintenance needs of a BLC aircraft doomed the concept. 08/25/2014 @ 10:26 [ref: 68623]

Richard Reilly St, MN

I never worked directly on the X-21 but was employed by Northrop during the period 1954 - 1957 doing basic research on laminar flow that led to the X-21. I was involved in development and testing of small models of wing slot configurations and later wind tunnel and flight tests of configuration so developed. The flight tests were conducted on a Lockheed F-94 fitted with a wing "glove" containing the laminar flow test section.

I left the program in 1957 to work on the design of the inlets for the Northrop F-5. 11/26/2011 @ 14:19 [ref: 50689]

ricardo toronto, ON

...maybe like a golfball in flight, we can dimple the wing and body of aircraft to maximize air flow over that surface. 11/04/2008 @ 08:41 [ref: 22977]

Nebs , OTH

I think the laminar flow control could provide serious solutions to range and efficiency issues, so it's a bit of a shame that this project never fully developed. 09/19/2005 @ 11:39 [ref: 11280]

Larry Barker , CA

The X-21A was the first project I worked on when I got out of college in 1961. My 5 years on the program provided some great learning experiences, so I have nothing but fond memories. 06/28/2005 @ 22:31 [ref: 10614]